Transformation of the old Swedish town hall with an inner courtyard and glass roof

Transformation of the old Swedish town hall with an inner courtyard and glass roof,

Danish architecture firm Henning Larsen has transformed an old Swedish town hall

with a light-lit inner courtyard covered with a glass roof, into the shape of a stunning dome in Uppsala, Sweden.

Design Features

The project covers an area of ​​25,000 square meters, and was named Uppsala Town Hall.

The project involves the transformation and expansion of the existing town hall proposed by Swedish architects Erik and Tore Ahlsén in the 1960s.

Eric and Tori Ahlsen had planned four five-story buildings clustered around an outside central courtyard.

However, one of the buildings was not fully built by the architects,

who had to finish the project early due to financial difficulties in 1964.

 

 

So an L-shape was formed and the envisioned courtyard remained indeterminate,

eventually becoming a completely boring parking lot.

The city tried several times to continue building, over the ensuing five decades, to no avail.

Henning Larsen commissioned the transformation of the existing town hall in 2016,

along with the Danish landscape practice SLA.

And Swedish development consultancy Tyrens, fully revealing the social,

environmental and historical conditions of the existing building.

The new Swedish town hall accommodates the town squares and estates of Uppsala municipality in the north of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

Henning Larsen was inspired by Japanese philosophy and the art of repairing pottery with gold,

known as Kintsugi, and this was the inspiration for connecting the original building with a new one.

 

Converting the building into four connected buildings

Concerning the conversion of the building, it was originally planned for four connected buildings,

of whom only two were built.

One of these buildings was not built as planned, but only had three floors.

However, they had prepared a structure underneath that was strong enough to continue building in the future.

They also realized that it would be difficult to do so later, so they prepared.

It was meticulously planned, and it was absolutely amazing to have

such a perfectly planned foundation to work from and modernize, by today’s standards in terms of society and building regulations.

 

 

 

The unfulfilled plan meant that its intended function was not fully fulfilled.

Uppsala City Hall has never been able to accommodate all the municipal departments and offices,

many of which have spread over the decades across the city.

Elected politicians met periodically in the adjacent seasonal banquet hall for debates,

when there was no meeting room.

In short, Uppsala City Hall never became where it was meant to be.

The designers had to go and look for the little details of the building,

and try to reveal the actual plan: What are the meanings of these choices?

And what did they want from this space all those years ago? Then we had to ask ourselves:

How can we build on that? How might this guide our presentation?

So it was like going on an expedition to discover the past in a way you didn’t expect,

different elements came together like the puzzle you’re trying to solve.

 

Design shape

The city hall deals with the citizens, as guests are invited inside through a corridor

that runs through the ground floor of the building that forms the heart of the city hall.

The ground floor consists of public services and programs such as a café, restaurant, shops and exhibition facilities.

Transformation processes have a very different mindset than design anew,

but at the same time, they can produce exciting and unexpected results.

Pushing and challenging the new because ancient architecture plays an active role,

like another voice in the discussion.

Designers simply used glass instead of gold, so the past, present and future come together in the converted City Hall.

The new building also carries an old legacy but includes a new 14,000 m² to finally house all of the municipality’s activities.

Total indoor courtyard area is 1,500 square meters, covered by a stunning dome-shaped glass cantilevered roof, weighing 700 tons.

The courtyard provides an inclusive space for residents, municipal officials and public officials to gather,

and a sculpted building located within the courtyard where the town hall rooms and assembly hall are located.

 

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